VK | visits on art, design, architecture and literature

January 28, 2015

Munich; at Haus der Kunst: Mark Leckey:”As If “and David Adjaye: “Form, Heft, Material”

HdK Preview opening for Mark Leckey: “As If “and David Adjaye: “Form, Heft, Material”

30.01 – 31.05.15 Mark Leckey: As If

“….The exhibition’s layout at Haus der Kunst is structured according to four chapters: The show opens with autobiographical works – from “Are You Waiting” (1996), a precursor to “Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore”, to “MyAlbum: A Rough-Demo Video,” (2014-15) a filmed autobiography, which is premiered as a demo version. Mark Says Leckey: “‘MyAlbum’ is a record of all the events in my life during the twentieth century that I feel were significant. It is a memoir from 1954 until 1999.” In the central space, all five of the artist’s “Sound Systems” (2001–12) are presented for the first time as an ensemble…” (HdK exhibition release)

more events for the exhibition here

30.01 – 31.05.15 David Adjaye: Form, Heft, Material

“The heterogeneous work of architect David Adjaye (b. 1966) comprises approximately 50 built projects – from luxury shops and museums to libraries and social housing. His most recent commissions include the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., as well as the National Museum of Slavery and Freedom in Cape Coast, Ghana. The buildings of the Ghanaian-British architect are often developed in collaboration with artist friends, including the homes he designed for Chris Ofili, Sue Webster and Tim Noble, and Lorna Simpson and James Casebere…” (HdK release)

photos@VK

more on lectures and seminars on the exhibition

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January 28, 2015

Vienna; Velázquez at Kunst Historisches Museum

My wonderful 3 day visit to Vienna with my children by invitation of my wonderful friends Lina and Nikolas included on Saturday morning to enjoy the amazing show of Velázquez (1599 – 1660) at the Kunst Historishes Museum.

This major exhibition in collaboration with, among others, the Museo Nacional del Prado Madrid, who holds the largest collection of works by Velázquez and has been the main lender, the National Gallery in London and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

28 October 2014-15 February 2015

The Kunsthistorisches Museum hosts the first show in a German speaking country of the work of the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez (1599 – 1660). In addition to Velázquez’ charming portraits of the royal children – one of the highlights of the Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum – the show comprises other genres such as kitchen still lifes, religious subjects, mythologies and history paintings, offering a comprehensive survey of the master’s versatility and virtuosity. Among the seminal loans to this exhibition are the “Rokeby Venus”, “Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan” and the “Adoration of the Magi”, all of which have never been shown in Vienna. (museum press release)

photos@vk

my favorite painting and I took time to listen to my wonderful friend Nikolas that we visited together was ‘The Waterseller‘, as many regard Velazquez’s best work from his early years in Seville. “… throughout Europe, watersellers were essential in Seville. Nonetheless, they were ranked newar the bottom of the social pyramid. But Velazquez reverses this completely and inbues the old man with dignity, although the higher social status of the boy clutching the full glass is clearly indicated by his fine clothes and light skin….”

‘The Waterseller’, c.1922 London, Apsley House, The Wellington Collection

My beautiful stay was highlighted as I stayed at my friends’ house on the 19th, in the beautiful historical villa of Heinrich Schnitzler, son of the great writer Arthur Schnitzler.

photos@vk

and a visit at cafe Demel

and of course a Viennese cafe on Sunday morning at Cafe Central with Lina

photos@vk

Dear Lina and Nikolas thank you for the great hospitality to me and my children over the weekend in Vienna.

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January 8, 2015

Munich; finissage of Florine Stettheimer at Lenbachhaus Kunstbau and at Brandhorst Museum “Dark Pop-Extended Version”

A visit last Sunday afternoon at Lenbachhaus Kunstbau -last day the wonderful exhibition of Florine Stettheimer. I have written in this blog during the opening of the exhibition, on Sept 27th, 2014

Her pictures and poems, her designs for studios and stages constitute a modern synthesis of the arts and a chronicle of urban life. Stettheimer painted beauty contests and the revelries of celebrities, skyscrapers, Wall Street, and consumer culture, anticipating many of the interests that would later animate Pop Art. Her oeuvre is a source of inspiration for some of the most fascinating artists working today.

At Brandhorst Museum, “Dark Pop-Extended Version“, new installations of artists: Andy Warhol, Bruce Nauman, Robert Gober, Mike Kelley, Cady Noland, Jeff Koons, Louise Lawler et al.

Achim Hochdoerfer, the new appointed director in 2014 of the Museum has done a wonderful and playful presentation of the collection and the new pieces that have been added. The Mike Kelley rooms are great, the Bruce Nauman in the same room with Polke and the Louise Lawler installation were my highlights.

Pop Art’s seemingly blissful embrace of the consumer world was haunted from the first by a gloomy undertone. Warhol’s images of glamorous celebrities and glittering fetishes of consumption were interspersed with motifs of violence, sensationalism and metaphors of death. As if an icon, the tondo of Marilyn Monroe was created after her suicide. For its counterpart of the smiling Jackie Kennedy, Warhol used photos that were reproduced endlessly after the president’s assassination. These works seem to mirror back to us the cynicism of our supposedly enlightened pragmatism. (museum press release)

and in my favorite rooms, the Cy Twombly sculptures

photos@VK

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January 7, 2015

Munich; exploring the amazing creations of Pellicano design

Recently I met lovely Maria Livia Pellicano, a new wonderful friend, wonderful jewelry designer, and while talking over wonderful tea time at her beautiful house, I had the chance and pleasure to explore and adore her unique creations. Maria Livia is from Rome but the last 22 years lives in Munich with a short stay in between in Bangkok. In 2005 she founded the jewelry brand Pellicano Design. Just refined aesthetics; rooted in love for the art. Her early education was at Luceo Artistico Alessandro Caravilani in Rome and then she continued 5 years at the Instituto Europeo Del Design, in Rome.

Her beautiful house in Munich is filled with art and her strongest influence in her life, her seven beautiful children. “They help me in my work, commenting – says Pellicano – support me in every way, are my top fan.”

here some of the exclusive unique pieces

“Performance Changeable”-architecture collection, copyright, 18 kt w.g Diamonds Pave

Master Joker “Shaker” Master Joker collection coctail ring 18 KT Y.Gold Prasiolith/Brown Diamonds.

Its four product lines – ranging from pieces of the highest level, worn on occasions like the chic Met Ball in New York, to a younger line in silver.

“The two stones, are close and rendered inseparable by a ring studded with small diamonds that seems to hover around them. The two precious gems and inseparable dance forever “Walzer” of life.

the younger line,

“What is required today to a jewel? The exclusivity, replies Maria-Livia Pellicano

photos@Pellicano design, by Maria Livia Pellicano’s permission

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December 30, 2014

Switzerland; visiting Lower Engadine; Sils Maria, St. Moritz, Zuoz, S-Chanf

Engadin: one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland ; some fabulous days for Christmas with Udo Brandhorst and our lovely daughter Ana Nefeli in Waldhaus Hotel in Sils Maria; the panoramic views are so amazing clear and stunning that you have to rub your eyes to make sure you are not in a Hollywood epic; speaking of, last days Waldhaus has received much attention due to the just released movie “The Clouds of Sils Maria” with Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart.

Here, a large stretch of lake, a sprinkling of villages and the sheer rock face of bare mountains towering over the expanse make for a very unique landscape.

In a letter Nietzsche once referred to it as being “heroic and idyllic”. This is where the philosopher penned part of his widely acclaimed work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Sils Maria, photo@Udo Brandhorst

wald4

wald2

photos@VK, december 2014

Such a joy to enjoy the nature and driving to the mountains. As I do not have captured yet the fine sport of skiing, I projected somehow my alternate possibilities and challenged myself by driving high up to the mountains and escalating afterwards down to the lovely village of Pochiavo, (speaking italian here)

Church of San Vittore in Poschiavo

photos@VK, december 201

I treasured the moments during my long drive to stop at Bernina cafe, close to Lagalb Diavolezza slopes slopes to have a hot chestnut soup with Udo Brandhorst and talk about art.

While capturing amazing moments of nature and beauty, I visit briefly and had tea lovely Ladina Florineth, who owns the Villa Flor , a charming seven-room hotel that opened last summer in a renovated patrician house in the town of S-Chanf. The original and conserved Jugendstil ornaments have been restored with much love and professional work. They are now part of the unique atmosphere, which plays unaffected between the present and the faded charme of the past.
“Philosophers, authors, artists always came here, but it was usually to the upper valley,” said Ladina “Now people are discovering the lower part, which is becoming more important”

We had our tea during her break preparing a lovely set of photographs by the Korean artist Bookchang Koo “White on white “where was to open next evening (exhibition in collaboration with Ivory Press)

Villa Flor in S-Chanf, photo@VK

Bohnchang Koo, @invitation card “White on White”

a beautiful book, present by Ladina, her previous art exhibition, Philipp Keel.

Upon my arrival my first night in Engadin, I attended lovely coctail event given given by my dear friend and amazing jewelry designer Cora Sheibani for her creations, at private home in St Moritz.. amazing creations! beautiful precious stones in amazing set designs! I love them all!

and of course, to visit the Nietzsche house in Sils Maria

Great walker
“Fortunately, you can’t change mountains or lakes,” says Joachim Kung, a Nietzsche scholar and the curator of the Nietzsche House in Sils Maria.

“Of course the area today is very touristy, but you can still find places where you can go for walks alone. Sils has also tried to keep away mass-tourism, so for instance, the parking lots have been put underground.”

The Nietzsche Haus displays manuscripts, letters, works and even the man’s death mask.But it mainly serves as a meeting place for Nietzschean scholars, offering them board and lodging, and organising discussions, debates and exhibitions immersed in the scenery that so inspired the great philosopher.

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December 21, 2014

VK’s Reading Room:”Francesco Bonami Goes to Antarctica

I read this at Vulture written by Francesco Bonami on his trip to Antarctica very very interesting, as somehow the curator becomes the subject for study on a real life exhibition.

“………….
Now is the season to go: Some things are melting, certain parts still have waves of the frozen ocean, and in a few weeks, it will melt down and turn into water. It was quite intense. We had to fly for a long time in this unpressurized plane for 7,000 feet. It was very intense. We went from Cape Town. We went with a bag full of stuff. I brought very little for myself. We changed very little. I would drink bottled water. I think you could drink the tap water. There were icebergs that looked totally pure — we took ice from an iceberg and we used it to drink whiskey. The Russian base really drinks; you don’t want to have a hang-over there. I didn’t want to have it. I don’t think it would have been fun. And no, it’s not very good food. It is mostly frozen. You’re very high most of the time, you are slightly nauseous; you don’t have a huge appetite.”

“..I’m glad it came through, but I don’t think I want to go back — I’ve seen it. It’s not anything from a curatorial point of view; many curators have gone to Antarctica. Though it informed me in a very mystic way. I was at the American base, the Amundsen-Scott base, and I met an Australian or New Zealand scientist. And he told me something like, What if the Earth and the sun didn’t exist, we could establish if the universe has an up and a down. It got me thinking — it was a very banal talk — but you think from a Western point of view that you are upside-down, and then you look up, and you still look up! Whether we invented the universe or a God did, either way, he was very clever, he made something where nobody can look down; even if you look down, it is always up, I think it was interesting. It is a stupid thought, but I truthfully never thought about it until I was there.”

Francesco Bonami goes to Antarctica, full article here

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December 12, 2014

Munich; Espace Louis Vuitton invites Min-Jeong Seo who took up residency at Espace Tokyo and art critic Aomi Okabe

In Tokyo, In Situ-1, Espace Louis Vuitton: Sept 13, 2014-January 4th, 2015

A lovely evening last Friday at Espace Louis Vuitton to attend a conversation between the artist Min-Jeong Seo and art critic Aomi Okabe on the project where the artist has been in a residency at the Espace/Louis Vuitton, In Situ-1, in Tokyo, from September to November 2015 (conversation in japanese, with live german translation)

Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo and Munich launch the experience Of In-Situ in September 2014 by welcoming South Korean artist Min-Jeong Seo and Malaysian artist Simryn Gill, respectively.

In Tokyo, In Situ/Espace Louis Vuitton Min-Jeong Seo “opens the door to her ‘studio’ for about four months to share her experience of working in situ with the audience and show the progress of her work. She establishes a bold dialogue between creation and destruction with poetic and highly symbolic installations. By sculpting, breaking and scraping fragile materials such as polystyrene or porcelain, the artist evokes fragility and uncertainty of life, and notions of instant and time.”

photos@published photos, Louis Vuitton In Situ/Tokyo

Min-Jeong also talked about her previous work ‘Explosion”

as well as the black/white birds made out of porcelain.

photos@Min-Jeong Seo

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December 7, 2014

Munich; Neue Pinakothek: Gustave Courbet “Schleuse im Tal von Optevoz” 1854

A rainy and misty afternoon brought me to Neue Pinakothek to see the painting by Gustave Courbet and much of research about “THE RIDDLE OF ‘THE SLUICE GATE AT OPTEVOZ”

27.11.2014-09.03.2015

One painting in the Neue Pinakothek highlights the speed with which firmly established facts can dissolve in light of new research. ‘The Quarry of Optevoz’ was acquired in 1910 as a painting by Gustave Courbet, and has long been considered an important early example of the famous artist’s landscape paintings. A restoration of the painting, however, revealed that Courbet’s style and signature came from a later, posthumous revision, probably painted by Courbet’s contemporary Charles François Daubigny (1817–1878). The exhibition uncovers the thrilling story of this painting and sheds light on the context of its creation. (Neue Pinakothek press release)

it is one of my favorite museums for sunday afternoons.. already the festive note is around.

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December 2, 2014

Munich; at Architekturmuseum “Lina Bo Bardi 100- Brazil’s Alternative Path to Modernism”

14.11.2014 – 22.02.2015
PINAKOTHEK DER MODERNE
ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM DER TU MÜNCHEN

Lina Bo Bardi would have turned 100 on 5 December 2014

A misty rainy morning in Munich; what a perfect day to re-visit the wonderful exhibition at Architecturmuseum at Pinakothek der Moderne, “Lina Bo Bardi 100. Brazil’s Alternative Path to Modernism”

Casa Do Chame-Chame, Salvador, 1958-1964/modellbauer

The Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) defined her own particular artistic path through outstanding designs starting at the mid-twentieth century. In architecture as well as stage sets, graphic art, fashion and furniture design, she implemented impulses of Modernism, but interpreted them quite individually.

On the exhibition

Lina Bo Bardi raised and educated in Italy, she played an important role in the development of modern architecture in Brazil.. She evolved an approach to design that was unique to her and which placed the social significance of construction and its cultural ‘architettura povera’, Linda Bo Bardi can be seen as a forerunner to today’s emergent socially driven ‘architecture engagee’. One of her most important achievements was her ability to create buildings that were widely popular among the local public and which defied conventional classification. (museum press)

The exhibition beautifully conceived and installed by Dr Andres Lepik, director of Technische Universität/Architecturmuseum and his team, is featuring about 100 original drawings. The exhibition opens with a section dedicated to Bo Bardi’s formative years in 1930s Italy, as well as her first activities as editor and designer of such journals as Domus, Lo styles, and A. Cultura della Vita. An installed cement brick wall runs thru the exhibition space and model makers placed in various positions ; ink jet photos on the wall; a video screening explores her innovative exhibition concepts. ” One of her most important achievements was her ability to create buildings that were widely popular among the local public and which defied conventional classification. “

Needlees to say how much I enjoyed every single drawing as Linda Bo Bardi managed to bring me in Brazil so elegantly this misty rainy morning; as she says “I don’t produce that many drawings myself. only the essential ones.”

The exhibition is accompanied by the release of a large catalogue that sheds new light on Lina Bo Bardi’s architectural achievements, examined from different angles. Featuring texts by Renato Anelli, Zeuler Lima, Cathrine Veikos, Sabine von Fischer, and Guilherme Wisnik, the catalogue will be available in two editions (English and German), published by Hatje Cantz.

Lina siting on a Bardis Bowl
F. Albuquerque

Lina designed Bardi’s bowl chair in 1951. Here is a wonderful written piece on the project of Bardi’s chair by Dr Renato Anelli (architect and professor at the University of Sao Paulo

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November 30, 2014

Munich: presentation of Stefan Hunstein’ s new book “IM EIS” at the Kammerspiele Theater, ed. by Dr Petra Giloy-Hirtz

A beautiful sunday 12 o’clock event at the Münchner Kammerspiele Theater for the new book of photographs by Stefan Hunstein,”IM EIS” also a very famous german actor, published by Hirmer Verlag GmbH; a discussion followed with the photographer and Dr Petra Giloy-Hirtz and Dr Ulrich Pohlmann.

The photographs were exhibited (May 9-June 15, 2014) at the Münchner Stadmuseum

Stefan Hunstein, is one of those photographers that have braved the polar seas and he traveled to Greenland in 2012 and returned with an enthralling portfolio of breathtakingly beautiful images of the ends of the world…”

” The magic of the polar regions has fascinated and attracted explorers for centuries. This desolate world, characterized by gigantic icebergs, drift ice, and Arctic temperatures, conforms to everyone’s conception of a pristine, archaic landscape, which, however, is accessible only for a short time and at the cost of enormous physical effort with the aid of sophisticated technology. Those who visit this bizarre landscape of ice and snow are overwhelmed by the sensation of being just a tiny, insignificant entity in the midst of a grandiose natural spectacle.
In the last few years a number of artists, such as Olafur Eliasson and Darren Almond, have discovered these Arctic regions and responded creatively to their natural wonders in different ways.” (museum press release)

(published photos@Münchner Staadtmuseum/exhibit)

The gathering took place at the Kammerspiele Theater with the impressive and in sync staging of the now play “März” of Heinar Kipphardt; Stefan Hunstein read a beautiful text from Christoph Ransmayr, Abschlag am Nordpol (from his book: “Atlas eines ängstlichen Mannes”

photos@VK

Stefan Hunstein is represented by Andreas Binder gallery

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